One of the CTA's major innovations during the 1950s was the new Congress Expressway rapid transit line. Forward-thinking transportation planners in Chicago had envisioned early on the possibility of including a median strip rapid transit line in the construction of the city's expressways. Chicago pioneered this method of integrated urban transportation. Many commuters from the city's West side and western suburbs took advantage of the new line and its brand new cars to breeze in and out of the city center, past expressway traffic.